


Briar

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Sleeping Beauty (1959), Twisted Princesses - Jeftoon01
Genre: Dark, Deathfic, Gen, Magic, Yuletide, Yuletide 2013, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-06 01:44:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1100942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was an accident.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Briar

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Opalsong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Opalsong/gifts).



> Thanks so much to my speedy betas, Antumbral and MarsDragon!

It was an accident.

Briar Rose had been climbing the cliffs near her home, trying to get a better view of the castle beyond the woods. She had done it a dozen times in her childhood, and this time should have been no different.

But it was different. Just inches from the top of the cliff a piece of rock crumbled beneath her hand and before she knew it Briar Rose was plummeting to the forest floor.

*o*

Now, despite what they told the King and Queen, the three good fairies were actually quite powerful -- as powerful as Maleficent in their own right. When Merryweather wove a spell to overcome death, it was not simply the reverse of Maleficent's spell. It transmuted to sleep _all_ deaths that their princess faced, though the fairy did not realize that at the time.

And so it was that much later that night a very pale Rose entered the small cottage. At first her adoptive Aunts were not sure why their normally cheerful girl was so silent. It wasn't until she pulled off her tattered cloak, revealing the crippled hand that had broken her fall that they realized the truth.

Merryweather silently bound her arm as Flora paced, trying to come up with a solution. Unfortunately, the spell had been cast, and its effect had already been triggered.

Briar Rose was dead, and yet she merely slept.

Walking around with her eyes closed in sleep and her skin pale as death, she managed to continue with a normal routine. But silence reigned where once music had flowed, and a pale, ethereal look replaced the beauty she had been blessed with.

For Flora's blessing was also unbreakable, and so Rose did not rot and decay as the other dead did. Her lips remained red, her hair remained blonde, and she still enchanted everyone she met.

The three fairies tried to continue on as they had before, raising the girl and teaching her about the forest. But though she still walked among them, the girl they knew was no more.

*o*

One day it happened that a hunter and his horse ventured into their area of the woods. He had hair of gold and a red cape, and he was quite handsome to look at atop his grey steed, but such things meant nothing to Briar Rose now. As he hunted, the man was startled by a noise and loosed his arrow too soon. Instead of hitting the doe for which he aimed, he cut down Rose's faithful owl friend.

For the first time since the accident she opened her mouth, emitting a mournful tune. Shakily, still dripping blood from his feathers, her owl rose and flew to her side. Rose sang out another note and within seconds the hunter found himself beset with animals of every shape and size, including one furious owl with eyes of red.

Thus was her second gift reborn, as the rest of her had been. For though her song still captivated all she met, it now bound the dead to her side, enchanting them and making them hers.

Still, Rose did not speak, nor open her sleeping eyes. She walked through the forest and sat down to the table for meals as she had before. She even lay down on her bed at night, but the good fairies knew that she was simply going through the motions.

*o*

Having been unable to come up with a better idea, the fairies finally decided to tell Aurora the truth. Perhaps learning about her destiny would help her transform her new existence into a blessing. Perhaps she would take heart in her potential future and become more like the old Rose they had known.

To their delight, it did. Speaking for the first time since her fall, their little girl asked to see their real forms. The fairies gladly retrieved their wands and transformed, flying around the small cottage.

They were so excited that their plan had worked that they did not notice Aurora's soft hum until it was too late. Her pet owl snatched their wands from their hands, then landed on his mistress's shoulder.

Without a word, she waved the wands. The fairies found themselves shrunken to their smallest size and flung into an empty lantern, the door closing behind them with an audible clang.

Pocketing the wands, their charge picked up the lantern and held it up to her nose. She opened her eyes and gazed at the women she had once loved. The sight of her hollow gaze filled the fairies with dread and her voice, when she finally spoke, was like the cracking of thin ice beneath an unwary traveler.

"I am Briar," she declared. "You sought to meddle in the affairs of fate. Princess Aurora was fated to die before her sixteenth birthday, and so she has. But because of your meddling, I shall take her place."

*o*

Briar, disguised as Aurora, returned to the distant castle, where she was welcomed gratefully. Her beauty was as wonderful as the fairies had foretold and her singing, which continued all afternoon, was a delight to hear. The entire castle was enchanted and even King Hubert emerged from his mourning long enough to sigh over the girl.

But that night, as darkness descended on the castle, so too did the animals that Aurora had summoned. While the human inhabitants slept, her animals slipped into each house and every bed. With their victims locked in slumber, there was no resistance when the beasts struck! By the morning, the three captive fairies were the only living creatures left in the castle, gazing in shock over the destruction Briar had wrought.

As she looked out over the land, Briar began to sing again. Her tune carried on the dawn breeze, and every animal leapt to do as she asked. The animals were so numerous that the ground appeared to flow like a river as they raced forth across it. The birds were so many that they filled the sky, like dark clouds that sped across the horizon.

As the sun fully rose over the desolate kingdom, her army descended en masse upon the forbidden mountain. A distant scream, followed by a roar, floated across the wind, telling little of the tale. The fairies, noting the smile on Briar's face, wondered if she could see what was happening in that far off battle, despite the fact that her eyes remained closed.

Eventually, the shock wave of Maleficent's destruction rushed through the three fairies and they knew that Briar had won. Their own battle was over, but at what greater cost?

Briar turned from the balcony and walked into the opulent room beyond. Silently, she lay down on the bed, appearing to slip back to sleep.


End file.
